(Note: Class Packs are available from the A&S Copy Center in Eisenhower Hall.)

Course Description:

A survey of representative British authors since the late
17th century. We will consider their works in terms of form and
the historical context of their cultural production, exploring
the often contested relationship between life and art. Our goal
is twofold: familiarity with a canon of British literature and
further practice in literary analysis and interpretation. Success
in this course depends upon careful reading and participation
in our discussions.

Course Objectives:

To become familiar with dominant themes and forms in British literature, from1660 to the present.

To become familiar with major genres in and conventions of literature.

To become familiar with the literary terms commonly used in advanced courses.

To develop and apply critical skills for reading, thinking, and writing about literature.

To develop and apply skills related to communication through various technologies.

Requirements and General Expectations:

Readings: You are expected to complete each reading assignment before coming to class. You are further expected to think carefully about what you read and to make notes in your book prior to each class meeting. Bring the appropriate book or class pack to class each day and additionally mark passages that we discuss; this process will help you understand, remember, and review.

Class Participation and Attendance: Although this class may be large, you will be asked to participate regularly in class discussions and in collaborative learning groups. Your attendance is therefore important. You will not be penalized for your first three absences; thereafter, further absences jeopardize your final course grade. Excessive unexcused absences (six or more) may result in failure of the course. While I appreciate your offering explanations for absences, the only way to excuse an absence is to
provide me with an official letter from your dean or an official notice of illness from the Health Center
or your doctor. If you are absent, it is your responsibility to find out from another class member any announcements or assignments.

Quizzes: Occasional short (10 minute) quizzes consisting of identifications and interpretive questions will help you improve your close reading skills and to evaluate your comprehension of the material. Quizzes are noted on the syllabus; I also reserve the right to administer further quizzes as necessary, or change a quiz into a take-home close reading response. Quizzes will be graded on a scale of 1 to 5 points: 5=A, 4=B, 3=C, 2=D, 1=F. At the end of the semester, I will average the results to determine your final quiz grade. (I will drop the lowest quiz grade before averaging.) Should you be absent on the day of a quiz, you will receive a zero, unless the absence is excused.

Papers: You will write two short papers. The papers are due at the time the class meets. Late papers will be penalized one full grade (i.e., B to C) for each day late. More information about these two papers follows the schedule of classes below. Note: The University's Honor Code obliges you to cite the source of any idea that is not your own. If you quote, paraphrase, or use another's ideas, you must give credit to the person whose ideas you are using. Otherwise, you have plagiarized. If you have any questions, please ask. If you do plagiarize, you will fail this course.

Electronic Bulletin Board: Beginning the first week of class, I'll establish an electronic bulletin board for our class. Each week, each student is required to post at least one paragraph-length comment about the materials we're studying in class. I will monitor these discussions and assess a grade (at the end of the semester) based on the thoughtfulness of your comments, their ability to foster discussion among your classmates, and their responsiveness both to our readings and to your classmates' comments in class and on the list. Your postings do not need to be long; however, they need to be substantive: they must be long enough to convey clearly the problem you are taking up and your point of view, connecting your comment to others' comments, as appropriate. I will offer models of helpful comments early in the semester. Your grade for these postings will become part of your class participation grade.

Examinations: You will have a midterm and a cumulative final exam. A missed exam counts as a zero; no make-up exams will be offered without a dean's excuse.

Conferences: There are no mandatory conferences for this course. I encourage you, however, to stop by during office hours, particularly before an assignment is due, or if you have any questions or concerns about the course or the readings. You can always reach me by email to make an appointment if my office hours are not convenient for you.

Grading:

Paper #1

10%

Paper #2

10%

Quizzes

15%

Class Participation

20%

In-class 10%

Postings 10%

Midterm Exam

20%

Final Exam

25%

Schedule of Classes (subject to change)

[Unless otherwise indicated by CP for class pack,
readings are found in a required book.]

Restoration Drama: "Drama and Theater in the Late Seventeenth Century " (CPII: 266-70); from The London Stage (xliv-xlix); from The Public Image of the Actor (CPII: 24-5); Behn, from The Lucky Chance (CPII: 249-52, 259-68, 376-7); George Farquhar, from The Beaux’ Stratagem (CPII: 25-31, 90-3, 106-11, 126-31)

John Keats (823-26): "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer," "Sleep and Poetry," "On Seeing the Elgin Marbles," from "Endymion: A Poetic Romance," "On Sitting Down to Read King Lear...," "When I Have Fears...," "To Homer" (826-34)

October

F 1

Keats, "Ode to a Nightingale," "Ode on a Grecian Urn," "Ode on Melancholy" (849-854), "To Autumn" (872-3), and excerpts from Keats' Letters (886-903); Paper #1 due in class.

John Stuart Mill (1137-9): from The Subjection of Women (1155-65); "The Women Question" (1719-21) and excerpts from Ellis, "The Women of England...," Patmore, "The Angel in the House," and Besant, "The Queen's Reign" (1721-4, 1738-9)

Papers should follow the general rules of composition and be typed or word-processed with standard double-spacing, 1-inch margins, and either 10- or 12-point typeface. Title pages and covers are unnecessary. Pages should be numbered, stapled together, and spell-checked. Please follow the M.L.A. style for quotations. Errors in grammar and punctuation will be marked and will be significant factors in the grading of the paper if the mistakes are so numerous or egregious as to distract from the argument. Papers are due at the time the class meets; late papers will be penalized one grade (i.e., B to C) for each day late.

Paper #1 (Due Friday, October 1st; 3-4 pages in length)

Identify and discuss whatever patterns of imagery you find in one of Keats' odes on the syllabus: "Ode to a Nightingale," "Ode on a Grecian Urn," "Ode on Melancholy" (849-54), or "To Autumn" (872-3). As preparation for your paper, make a list of the poem's images, and identify any patterns that might emerge from that list. Then, decide how those patterns of images develop the poem's theme(s). What are some of the themes in the poem? How does the poem's imagery tell us about the theme(s)? Your thesis should answer these two questions, and the pattern(s) you uncover should help you answer them.

This paper should be in standard essay form. You should include a very short introduction that tells me the pattern(s) of imagery and the imagery's bearing on the poem's theme(s) - that is, the thesis of your paper. The rest of your paper will support this interpretation by supplying the details of your analysis.

Paper #2 (Due Friday, November 19th; 4-5 pages in length)

Choose one of the following topics for your paper on Part I of Eliot's "The Waste Land" (2369-72). As for Paper #1, this paper should be in standard essay form. You should include a very short introduction that tells me the thesis of your paper in response to one of the topics below; the rest of your paper will support this interpretation by supplying the details of your analysis.

1. Use the poem's title ("The Waste Land"), the epigraph (translated in your footnotes), and the section title ("The Burial of the Dead") as a way into a discussion about Part I of Eliot's poem. How do each of these "introductions" elucidate or connect to the narrative which follows in Part I? Be sure to refer to specific lines and images in your discussion.

or

2. In footnote #4 on p.2371, Eliot tells the reader that he "associate[s], quite arbitrarily," an image from a tarot card with the mythical image of the Fisher King. Consider Eliot's choice of the word "arbitrarily": What might Eliot's comment tell us about the way in which the poem is and will be constructed? Do the "I" and "we" of the poem "associate, quite arbitrarily" as well? Can we, as readers, begin to detect a pattern to these "arbitrary" associations? Be sure to refer to specific lines and images in your discussion.